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Sentencing Law and Policy 
News, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
Post Frequency: 77.7/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 10:54:24 Recent Entries: 4815
By Douglas A. Berman
Go to Sentencing Law and Policy, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
"The Fiscal Crisis in Corrections: Rethinking Policies and Practices"
Posted on July 29, 2009The title of this post is the title of an important new report from the Vera Institute of Justice, which is available at this link. Here is Vera's description of its efforts: States across the United States are facing the...
Split DC Circuit says federal judges cannot increase a prison sentence for rehabilitative reasons
Posted on July 29, 2009As detailed in this post from The BLT, the DC Circuit ruled yesterday that federal district judges "cannot use a greater likelihood of rehabilitation to justify a longer prison sentence for a criminal defendant." The ruling comes is In re:...
Justice news of notes from The BLT
Posted on July 29, 2009The Blog of Legal Times (aka The BLT) has lots and lots of recent posts of note (many of which should be of special interest for criminal justice fans): D.C. Circuit Bars Longer Sentences to Rehabilitate Prisoners 11th Circuit Nominee...
Japan continues its recent stepped-up pace for executions
Posted on July 28, 2009As detailed in this news report, which is headlined "Japan executes three for multiple murders," the one other major industrial nation with the death penalty has been stepping up its pace of executions in recent years. Here are details from...
"Court rejects state banishment of sex offender"
Posted on July 28, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this local article reporting on a state intermediate appellate court ruling out of Mississippi. Here are the particulars: The state Court of Appeals has thrown out a lower court order that...
Two more death sentences "completed" in California
Posted on July 28, 2009Though executions in California have been on hold for more than three years, this local story spotlights that some of the nearly 700 condemned persons on the state's death row are still dying. The story is headlined "Natural Causes Kill...
Resentencing in terror case results in life sentence
Posted on July 28, 2009As detailed in this Washington Post article, a controversial terrorism prosecution has resulted in a life sentence following a resentencing required by a Fourth Circuit ruling that found an initial sentence of 30-years to be unreasonably lenient. Here are the...
New York Times editorial on "12 and in Prison"
Posted on July 28, 2009Today's New York Times has this notable editorial about young kids in adult criminal justice systems. Here are some excerpts: The Supreme Court sent an important message when it ruled in Roper v. Simmons in 2005 that children under the...
Ohio Supreme Court blesses retoractive application of its response to Blakely
Posted on July 28, 2009As detailed this official summary, the "Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a criminal sentencing decision it made in 2006, rebuffing the claims of a defendant who argued the ruling violated his rights to a jury trial...
Texas to establish its first capital defender office
Posted on July 28, 2009As detailed in this Houston Chronicle article, which is headlined "State to handle capital appeals," Texas is reforming its process of capital defense. Here are more details: Texas, which executes more convicts than any other state in the nation, will...
"Prison consultants help inmates get good digs"
Posted on July 28, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this article about "a type of prison consultant increasingly popular among white-collar wrongdoers." Here's more from an interesting piece: From Martha Stewart to Michael Vick, prison consultants are often hired by...
Some of the amici briefs in support of the defendants in Graham and Sullivan,
Posted on July 28, 2009I am still working through the top-side merits briefs in Graham and Sullivan (discussed here), which are the two SCOTUS juve LWOP cases that present fascinating Eighth Amendment question. I hope to be able to find time in the weeks...
"[T]he felon dispossession dictum may lack the 'longstanding' historical basis that Heller ascribes to it"
Posted on July 28, 2009The title of this post is a line from a concurrence by Judge Tymkovich about Heller and the 922(g)(1) felon-in-possession law in US v. McCane, No. 08-6325 (10th Cir. July 28, 2009) (available here). In his concurrence to an opinion...
Federal felon Michael Vick allowed to return to work in NFL
Posted on July 27, 2009Though it is pehaps too soon to call this latest news from the NFL evidence of a successful prisoner reentry, it is notable (and I think appropriate) that Michael Vick will be able to try to play professional football again...
"'Crack tax' shot down: Supreme Court rules case violates state constitution"
Posted on July 27, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this local article reporting on a notable split ruling from the Tennessee Supreme Court. Here are the details: Ruling in a case that originated in Knox County, the state Supreme Court...
"Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice"
Posted on July 27, 2009The title of this post is the title of this Essay from Professors Joe Hoffmann and Nancy King that was recently published in the NYU Law Review. I blogged about this piece when it first showed up on SSRN, but...
Sixth Circuit rules ? in an unpublished decision! ? that reduced child-porn sentencing is substantively unreasonable
Posted on July 27, 2009A Sixth Circuit panel issued an important and potentially controversial decision today in a child porn case, though the ruling in US v. Harris, No. 07-4175 (6th Cir. July, 27, 2009) (available here), was handed down as an unpublished opinion....
Around the blogosphere
Posted on July 27, 2009Here are a few of the posts of note from around the blogosphere that should be of interest to criminal justice fans: From Balkinization here, "Neoliberal Penality in Action" and here, "1 out of 5 Prisoners in California Is Serving...
Potent op-ed notes what is missing from the Gates-gate debate
Posted on July 26, 2009Writing in today's New York Times, Glenn Loury has this potent op-ed putting the brouhaha surrounding the Gates incident in a broader context. Here are excerpts: [T]his much-publicized incident is emblematic of precisely nothing at all. Rather, the Gates arrest...
Noting the realities of federal sentencing after Booker in corruption cases
Posted on July 26, 2009This new article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which is headlined "Federal judges freed from sentencing rules," spotlights how the discretionary federal sentencing regime created by Booker has been playing out in corruption cases. Here is how it starts: Both were...
The controversial intersection of criminal justice practice and immigration policy
Posted on July 26, 2009This New York Times article, which is headlined "Debate Intensifies Over Federal Deportation Policy," spotlights the array of controversial and interesting issues that arise when criminal justice practice and immigration policy intersect. Here is how the article starts: The Obama...
Washington Post editorial on "Concaine Justice"
Posted on July 26, 2009Today's Washington Post includes this editorial on federal crack/powder concaine sentencing reform. Here are snippets: This year marks the 25th anniversary of legislation that created mandatory minimum sentences and established a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine...
Noticing the functional death of the death penalty in Pennsylvania
Posted on July 25, 2009This local article, headlined "Natural causes biggest threat on Pa. death row," spotlights the reality the the death penalty now essentially exists only in theory and not in practice in Pennsylvania. Here are some of the details: In the [last]...
Prison reforms and cuts left uncertain in final California budget deal
Posted on July 25, 2009Though the details seem murky, it appeals from this local article that California's budget deal, which was finalized late Friday, included some unspecified prison reforms and cuts. Here are the opaque details: Of the $25 billion in budget "solutions," $15...
"U.S. adds to sex offender registry confusion"
Posted on July 25, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this effective new piece from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Here are excerpts: Three rounds of legal battles in the Missouri Supreme Court still have not cleared confusion looming over the state's...
"Momentum Builds to Equalize Cocaine Penalties"
Posted on July 24, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this article in today's Washington Post. Here is how it starts: After two decades of criticism over cocaine sentences that disproportionately punish blacks, momentum is building in Congress and in the...
Should we use this forum to discuss the Gates incident and Prez Obama's response
Posted on July 24, 2009I fear what might happen if we open up this forum to a general discussion of the arrest of Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates and President Obama's discussion of the event at his Wednesday press conference. And, of course, none...
Drunk driver given the death penalty in China
Posted on July 24, 2009My students get tired of hearing me say that if America was really committed to the deterrence theory of the death penalty, some states would consider the sentence of death for drunk driving. But, as this news report highlights, the...
"The Prosecutor as Regulatory Agency"
Posted on July 24, 2009The title of this post is the title of this new piece by Professor Rachel Barkow that is available here via SSRN. Here is the abstract: The simple account of America?s system of separated powers has legislators responsible for making...
Lots of effective coverage of new lifer report from The Sentencing Project
Posted on July 23, 2009I am pleased to see that the important new report released by The Sentencing Project yesterday, No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America, is garnering significant attention from both the national media and local outlets. Here is...
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Japan's International Child Abduction Policy
By Kirsten Brown (AXcess News) Washington - Four fathers quietly f...
Eminent domain, demographics and immigration policy
On the face of it, you may be wondering what eminent domain,...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
My job requires me to drive bank deposits up to two times a day using my own vehicle and gas. Although not too far, can should I be receiving compensation? One deposit run is required daily by company policy, but the man
you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
from what you have put here yo...
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I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
My job requires me to drive bank deposits up to two times a day using my own vehicle and gas. Although not too far, can should I be receiving compensation? One deposit run is required daily by company policy, but the man
you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
from what you have put here yo...
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